Crossword puzzles are well known and have been used for public consumption in various media. They have been used to entertain and educate the masses of all age groups for millions of people in the world. A crossword puzzle game is constructed as a plurality of squares resembling a grid. The squares are arranged in rows and columns. Each square can take one letter of an answer to a clue. Certain squares in on the grid are numbered. The numbered squares indicate the starting point of an answer in a column or row to a clue corresponding to a row or column. The number of letters in an answer (sometimes indicated next to the clues) must exactly fit the given squares of rows or columns. Often the letters of clues in each column intersect with the letters of clues in each row. As a variation some grids may have answers in rows and columns that are mutually exclusive. Conversely, the letters in rows and columns do not intersect.
Crossword puzzles were the primary domain of the print medium (newspapers, magazines) until the advent of the new media, particularly the Internet. Crossword is growing as a popular online pastime for millions of Internet users in the world. An incentive for playing online is the availability of instantaneous results. The users can either get the results in a static format, in which the user completes the puzzle and verifies the answers (static format) or in a dynamic format in which the user is instantly notified of the right or wrong letter in real time. If the user begins to type the letters of an answer in the square, the color of the correct letter may be indicated in a certain color (say black) and the color of an incorrect letter may be indicated in another color (say red). This way a user knows if they are typing a correct answer in a row or column they choose to answer. The puzzle solver may choose the dynamic format which guides them in completing the puzzle with correct clues. The other option for a puzzle solver to generate answers to clues, whether playing static or dynamic online crossword puzzle, is to rely on plurality of sources including personal knowledge, online or hard copy dictionary, etc. This method of relying on a plurality of sources is a conventional format. Practically all crossword puzzle designers expect the puzzle solvers to rely on this method to generate answers for the clues.
Some online and offline crossword puzzles rely on the puzzle solvers to generate answers in a conventional format. Here though, the present invention uses a unique method to design and generate clues and answers for an online or offline crossword puzzle. This invention uses an online search engine to generate clues and answers in a unique method. The method expects the crossword designers and puzzle solvers to use a search engine to generate and play the puzzle. Search Engine Crossword puzzles are designed with various degrees of difficulty for all age groups of puzzle solvers.